Decriminalizing victimless crimes: marijuana possession and social outcomes

Victimless Crimes

The issue of victimless crimes and there toll on the criminal justice system has become an issue of much debate over the last few years (Dubber,2001). This issue is present in both urban areas and in rural America. This discussion will demonstrate victimless crimes should be decriminalized when all adult parties are consenting and when decriminalization would lead better social and economic outcomes.

Defining Victimless crimes

Victimless Crimes are those offenses in which there are no obvious victims and no evident injury. According to West's encyclopedia and American law,

"This class of crime usually involves only consenting adults in activities such as

Prostitution, Sodomy, and Gaming where the acts are not public, no one is harmed, and no one complains of the activities. Some groups advocate legalizing victimless crimes by removing these acts from the law books ("Victimless

Crime")."

The reason why such c9rimes exist have a great deal to do with the philosophies upon which societies are built. America is a democracy are forged upon the idea of rational foundations of control Stygian (2004) . Social Control is usually based on either consensus or conflict. That is laws or social control are formed as a result of the society enforcing laws based on broad agreement or because the absence of certain controls create conflict. Stygian (2004) explains "The control of some behaviors is justified based on social consensus (e.g., mala en se crimes), whereas the control of other behaviors is the outcome of conflict among different views (mala prohibita crimes)." That is, victimless crimes exist because we live in a society that believes that they should. There is a consensus that certain actions should be deemed criminal because they are inconsistent with the collective value system. Now that we have provided a definition of victimless crime, let us explore the various type of victimless crime and effort to decriminalize certain victimless crimes.

Types of Victimless Crimes

Drugs

Most often there are two types of crimes associated with drugs; possession and possession with the intent to distribute. The former is usually associated with drug users while the latter is associated with drug dealers. Dealing drugs is not viewed as a victimless crime. Drug dealing does obvious injury to people and is the cause of a great deal of violence. On the other hand the possession of drugs is viewed as a victimless crime. Most people who are charged with drug possession are drug addicts. Because of possession laws, instead being sent to a rehab facility, those possessing drugs are often sent to jail. This is a major problem because of the issue of overcrowded prisons. This is such a significant problem in some areas of the country that certain jurisdictions have made the possession of small quantities of marijuana legal (Volokh, 2004). This process of decriminalization took place because the use of marijuana is so unexceptional that as a result of common consensus communities, through their legislators, have decided that charging people with possession is no longer feasible. Te decreased feasibility has to do with the cost involved as it relates to court and the incarceration of those who are charged with the crime. In addition most recently there has been a great deal of attention paid to the economic benefits of marijuana. According to Dubner (2009), the decriminalizing of marijuana "a legally taxed and regulated marijuana market could generate upwards of $200 billion annually in excise tax revenues for the federal government & #8230; [which] would be enough to fund Medicaid (Dubner, 2009)." The article further explains that the decriminalization of Marijuana use would probably not have an adverse effect. The author points to the fact that in other countries like the Netherlands where smoking marijuana is legal for those over the age of 18 marijuana use is less common.

In states such as Alaska, California and Massachusetts, the possession of Marijuana for personal us has been decriminalized. However, some people have been prosecuted Federally even though marijuana was legal in the state in which they were found in possession of marijuana (Newbern, 2000). With this understood decriminalizing Marijuana at both the state a local level would be beneficial for law enforcement and the court system as it pertain to eliminating confusion.

C. Prostitution Laws

Some social scientists believe that the soliciting of prostitutes by men is natural (Farley 2004). In addition they contend that prostitution is just another aspect of human nature (Farley 2004). The main argument for decriminalizing in that prostitution is a form of labor and not a criminal activity. In fact in Nevada certain types of prostitution are legal. For instance, brothels are legal. They are also tightly controlled but they are legal whereas in other states they are illegal.

Opposition to the theory of victimless Crime

Although the theory of victimless crimes is a popular one. Some criminologists have also theorized that Victimless Crimes do not exist. They believe that all crimes have victims who may not be obvious at the time the crime is committed but all crimes have social implications ("Victimless Crimes"). This theory is based on the belief tat all crimes have an effect on society. For instance, neighborhoods are effected by drug use, pornography and prostitution. The presence of these elements in a neighborhood is often unwanted and can be the source of unsavory activity even if it is decriminalized. In addition families are also affected by drug use regardless of the drug because they are mind altering. Lastly, a criminologist of this ilk would argue that all crimes affect the stability of society as a whole because they can affect families and neighborhoods. This eventually becomes a problem for the entire society.

IV. Decriminalizing Victimless Crimes

Decriminalization at the state level

At the state level the decriminalizing of certain crimes seems to be rather simple. In many cases it has been done quite quickly with very little opposition form the public. In fact as it pertains to Marijuana, the public seems to be rather silent.

Decriminalization at the Federal Level

On the other hand decriminalization at the federal level is more problematic. There tends to be much more bureaucracy even when it appears that the American people support the decriminalization of certain crimes. This has been demonstrated in the sluggish effort to decriminalize marijuana.

Conclusion

This discussion demonstrated that victimless crimes should be decriminalized when all adult parties are consenting and when decriminalization would lead better social and economic outcomes. The research indicates that some activities that are deemed criminal may actually be less harmful if they are decriminalized. In all instances these crimes seem to only harm the people engaging in the crime and not the larger society. The research also found that decriminalization is possible at both the state and federal level. However it appears that decriminalization occurs faster at the state level.